Arsenal have reason to beware the arrival of Andy Carroll at the Emirates Stadium: he will be intent on inflicting a home defeat for the second time this season. Last November, he scored the winner when Newcastle upset Arsenal 1-0, outjumping Lukasz Fabianski and headed into the Polish goalkeeper's vacant net from 16 yards.

Arsenal will have a different keeper on Sunday – either Jens Lehmann or, more likely, Wojciech Szczesny, who resumed full training this week after the dislocated finger that he suffered during last month's Champions League defeat in Barcelona. But they will face the same problem: how to neutralise Carroll, whose two goals for Liverpool against Manchester City on Monday suggest he is primed to torment Arsenal again. "I particularly have in mind his second goal against City, where he showed good anticipation and got a good deflection on the ball," says the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger. "We have to keep him quiet this time."

It is difficult to imagine Wenger forking out the sort of fee Liverpool spent to recruit Carroll in January, even though the Frenchman says: "I do not rule it out, even if I haven't done it yet."

Wenger's record outlay does not even amount to half the £35m that Carroll cost and he has stressed this week, in the wake of the super-wealthy American businessman Stan Kroenke taking control of Arsenal by increasing his shareholding to 62.89%, that he does not foresee the club's policy of prudence changing. In fact, with Uefa's new rules for financial fair play coming into effect this June, Wenger is more convinced than ever that it is other clubs who will have to alter their behaviour.

"I read an article in a French newspaper this week that at Rayo Vallecano, who are [joint-]top of the Spanish second division, some players have not been paid for a year. Some players cannot pay their mortgages! We want to run our business properly, with income that is produced by our business. I want to sit here in September and see who respects the financial fair play."

While the new rules restrict the amount that sugar daddies can pour into clubs, Arsenal nevertheless know that to remain competitive they need to raise their revenue. To that end Wenger will take the club on a tour of the Far East for the first time in his 15-year reign. "Ideally I wouldn't want to go, but it is a compromise with the commercial department," he says. "I'll go because we make some sponsorship and money from the games that is higher than we get in Europe. Unlike some clubs, we do not get income from sources other than what we produce, so we have to produce as much as we can. That is the real world."

Another reality Wenger recognises is that Arsenal's season depends to a very large degree on the outcome of Sunday's match and Wednesday's derby at Tottenham Hotspur. Win them and Manchester United, who still have to visit the Emirates, could be caught. "These matches are vital. If we do not beat Liverpool and Tottenham, the season will not be over. But the championship race will be, that is for sure."

Johan Djourou, the central defender, could be available after a fitness test yesterday on his dislocated shoulder.